{"id":64702,"date":"2026-08-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=d0665152f887b9ba61fd54115bf4ec65"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:51:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:51:58","slug":"on-this-day-in-space-aug-24-2006-pluto-loses-its-planet-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/08\/24\/on-this-day-in-space-aug-24-2006-pluto-loses-its-planet-status\/","title":{"rendered":"On this day in space! Aug. 24, 2006: Pluto loses its planet status"},"content":{"rendered":"\n                            \n                            <article>\n                                <iframe src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/gpauFYfR.html\" id=\"gpauFYfR\" title=\"OTD in Space \u2013 Aug. 24: Pluto Loses its Planetary Status\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><p>On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/2791-pluto-demoted-longer-planet-highly-controversial-definition.html\"><u>Pluto wasn't a planet anymore<\/u><\/a>. <\/p><p>Since that date, Pluto has been officially <a href=\"http:\/\/cms.space.com\/cms\/references\/15216-dwarf-planets-facts-solar-system-sdcmp\"><u>classified as a dwarf planet<\/u><\/a> along with four other confirmed dwarf planets in the outskirts of the solar system. <\/p><p>This decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/5503-astronomers-argue-pluto-planet.html\"><u>sparked outrage around the world<\/u><\/a>, and the controversy is still very much alive today. Astronomers in favor of Pluto's demotion argued that a planet by definition should have cleared its orbit around the sun. Pluto and the more distant dwarf planets fail to meet this criterion. <\/p><figure class=\"van-image-figure  inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:2000px;\"><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img id=\"dEeNasCi4AMaZygaDjskHo\" name=\"Pluto\" alt=\"a mottled white, blue and brown orb on a black background\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/dEeNasCi4AMaZygaDjskHo.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"inline\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"caption-text\">On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided that Pluto wasn't a planet anymore.  <\/span><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><h2 id=\"why-it-mattered\">Why it mattered<\/h2><p>When Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet, many astronomers and scientists weren't happy with the result. <\/p><p>\"I'm embarrassed for astronomy,\" said Alan Stern, leader of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/nasas-new-horizon-probe-just-woke-up-from-hibernation-6-billion-miles-away-beyond-pluto-whats-it-doing-out-there\"><u>NASA's New Horizon's mission to Pluto<\/u><\/a> and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. \"Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted.\"<\/p><p>Stern argued that according to the IAU's new definition, many other planets in our solar system would fail to meet the same criterion. Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune, for example, all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/earth-trojan-asteroid-help-space-missions\"><u>share their orbits with asteroids<\/u><\/a>. <\/p><div style=\"min-height: 250px;\">                                <div class=\"kwizly-quiz kwizly-O6bJjO\"><\/div>                            <\/div>                            <script src=\"https:\/\/kwizly.com\/embed\/O6bJjO.js\" async><\/script><p>But if Pluto were to keep its planetary status, many of the solar system's dwarf planets would also need to be classified as planets \u200a\u2014 and there could be hundreds in our solar system.<\/p><p>While astronomers continue to debate the definition of planet and the implications thereof, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.space.com\/40550-pluto-planet-debate-flares-up-again.html\"><u>the public has come together multiple times to defend Pluto's title<\/u><\/a>. <\/p><p>For now, Pluto will just have to be the king of the dwarf planets. And that's pretty cool, too.<\/p><p>Want more space history? Check out our<a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/tag\/on-this-day-in-space\"><u><strong> full On This Day In Space Story archive<\/strong><\/u><\/a> and watch our<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLCE-SVF9BSTdloyi4P9TmQVTp9Q2zTb27\"> <u><strong>On This Day In Space videos on YouTube<\/strong><\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n                                                            <\/article>\n                            \n                        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided that Pluto wasn&#8217;t a planet anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":713,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[404,316,477],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-pluto","category-solar-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/713"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64702"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64985,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64702\/revisions\/64985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}